Anchor Me
by rivasgoljas
Summary: "I'm not your wet dream anymore, I'm your everything" "You're my only." Everything that Zig Novak wanted in a girl rested deep within Zoe Rivas and he was never afraid to let her true colours show. "Trust me, I know." AU, Rating may change later.
1. Prolouge

**A/N:**_ I have no idea where this came from, but do enjoy. _

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She always seemed to smell like caramelized sugar, the sickly sweetness that lingered on her skin enough to leave a cavity in your teeth, one so deep that it was painful. The way she'd touch him always sent a shiver down his spine, the delicate yet intricate way she'd softly manoeuvre her fingers along his bare chest burning a memory into his mind, so much so that he'd still feel her touch even months after he had seen her last.

It was things like these that made him want to know her more, to feel her touch for real, not in a dream, to lie beside her during an Indian summer that nobody could ever predict. It was a shame that all he'd ever be to her was another statistic to prove that her career was becoming a success.

It was ridiculous, the way he became obsessed with her. Every time he caught an episode of West Drive, he'd find himself so mesmerized every time she appeared on screen that it'd take so much for him to snap out of his daze, and that was what scared him the most. She was hypnotizing, her ability to capture him with a simple twitch of her fingers always left him in such a state that it terrified those around him, so it never came as a surprise when Tori said she didn't really want to watch West Drive with him anymore.

At just fifteen years old, Zig Novak was so obsessed with the starlet that he would be up most nights, thinking about what he'd do with her had he ever the chance to meet her. It was different each night, but it would always leave him with the same sticky sheets and the need to shower immediately after he opened his eyes.

Everyone would tell him all the time that she was just an actress playing a character, that it was the character he was obsessed with, not the girl herself, but Zoe Rivas was more than actress to him. She was the twinkle in the stars on a clear night, she was the deep bass line of a rock song that left him shaking with anticipation, she was the sweet moan that emitted from the girl who allowed herself to be filmed having sex with a stranger to please millions of men and women all over the world, Zig included. Zoe Rivas was more than just a candid photo from the red carpet or the grocery store, she was his dream.

He had to know her, he had to know everything about her and as he sat in the back of his English class, staring at the brown-eyed girl at the front, he sat up a little straighter, focused a little harder and ultimately, fell in love.

This was his opportunity; it was some sign from the Gods above that his dream girl was destined to be his actual girl. This was his chance and he was absolutely prepared to grab it by the balls and run.


	2. Scene I - If I

_**A/N:**_ So sorry this took me so long to update, there's about eight different drafts of this chapter- Finally wrote one that I liked so, here ya go! Enjoy!

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The first ring of the bell always went ignored by Zig and the rest of his friends, their tardy nature being one that irked the entire student body but was gently tolerated. Unfortunately for people like Zig, it was expected that he be late. After all, they were the kids who had given up, the ones who couldn't care less about their future as they knew it would most likely have the words 'failure' and 'McDonald's' in them.

Everyone in his group had their reasons for giving up on themselves—bad home life, serious lack of money, emotional and physical abuse that left them with a trauma that turned them into bittersweet memories and not the preppy douche bags that everyone seemed to hear about, but none of these were the reasons why Zig chose to give up.

Sure, he didn't have much money behind him, but that wasn't forever. He knew that he could get a job somewhere and actually earn a living and make enough money to keep him alive for longer than most of the others would be. Zig's reason was much different, one that nobody even knew of because he never spoke of it. His silent reason was the one to cut into his skin each night and circulate about until he was leaning out his bedroom window with a lit joint, smoking away until everything became serene again.

His reason wasn't a pair of words strung together in a messy sentence, no. His reason was a human being who hadn't seen the world and its magical offers because he ended his life. His reason was Campbell Saunders, the star hockey player who appeared to be so messed up that there was no use in trying to fix him.

Ever since he heard from the hockey team that Campbell was found dead in the school greenhouse, Zig's entire attitude changed. First, he was in denial. The minute the words had processed in his mind, he had turned around to tell them that it was a sick joke and then told them all to go and 'fuck themselves' because he knew that Cam wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead; no one would commit suicide… not at Degrassi, anyway. All Degrassi was good for terrible relationships and bad grades.

Next, he was angry. He snapped at anyone who spoke to him, including Maya Matlin and even hurt Tori by stating that she didn't even know him, so what help would she be? His anger then led into the bargaining, Zig silently thinking about what would have happened had he never called Cam a psycho or tried to get with Maya, even though she told him no.

After attending a counselling session, Zig learned that he was grieving, grieving the loss of a kid he was never a big fan of in the first place and after the five stages of grieving were explained to him, Zig learned that he had reached stage four— Depression.

While he was guilty for what he had said, Zig also knew that he was depressed, more than he was over the summer that he and Tori had broken up. He had made some pretty stupid decisions and ultimately learned that he never thought about what he was saying before he said it and that was what left him in a hole.

During the summer, Zig was left with his own thoughts as the only person who would talk to him was Damon and unfortunately for him, Damon was off on some road-trip with his cousin that would take the entire summer. Zig had moped around for the first couple of weeks of the vacation, volunteering to help his mother out with the store until it became so familiar that his mind began to wander back to his thoughts of Cam again. His mother eventually had to yell at him to leave because he was beginning to scare the few customers that entered the store with his anger.

He remembered leaving without another word that day and returned to his room, locking his door off with a chair and putting in the tenth season DVD of West Drive he had bought a few months after watching it with Tori. Left to his own device with the ability to watch Zoe Rivas, it wasn't all that strange that he had set himself up with the lotion and a blanket covering his lap for the entire night it took to watch the DVD.

It was that night that Zig had realised that the only thing that stopped him from thinking of Cam was Zoe and it only made his obsession grow.

Walking into the Science lab, late, as usual, Zig walked past the teacher's desk to take the tardy notice and moved to the back of the classroom where he found his otherwise empty bench half-occupied.

He should've immediately recognized her, the brunette locks easily distinguishable from most other brunettes, but he must've blanked because the minute she looked at him after he sat down, he fell off his chair, landing on the ground with a thud while the rest of the class gasped then burst into quiet giggles.

"Did you miss the seat or something?" she asked, watching him get up off the floor and sit down again, hoisting his bag up on to the desk to retrieve his books and pen.

"No." he answered coolly, zipping the bag shut after he retrieved the required gear and setting it on the ground before flipping open his notebook to quickly copy down the notes that had just been written on the whiteboard.

"Okay." She responded slowly, "Then why did you fall?" she asked him, the corner of her mouth twisting into a tiny smirk that Zig only caught via his peripheral vision.

"I used to be a skateboarder, you fall all the time." He said softly, continuing to act as though the girl right next to him wasn't the girl he spent his nights envisioning naked to get himself off over.

"Right, and I didn't just leave a TV Show for a shitty high school." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes playfully as she returned to her own work.

Zig tapped his pen against the blank page for a moment before dropping it and turning to Zoe. "Zig Novak." He said, offering his hand out to her, Zoe taking it in hers and giving it a firm shake.

"Zoe Rivas." She responded, the soft nature of her voice and the touch of her hand leaving Zig with embarrassing consequences. He was just glad that he had decided against the sweatpants his mother had brought to him that morning.

He gave a small nod and returned to his work, angling opposite from Zoe to avoid the potential event of her seeing his hard-on pressing against his jeans as he knew that he wouldn't be able to leave so soon.

"You know, I've heard that the boiler room is a great place to deal with things like that." Zoe whispered to him, the male immediately frowning because the sultry tone that hid behind her voice only made it worse.

"Sorry, puberty. Happens a lot." He stated, glancing at her quickly, hoping not to see an amused glint in her eyes.

"Just think about your cool-down, isn't that what the rest of you guys do?" she asked him softly, genuinely curious about how a male would deal with an unexpected erection.

"It's going to take a lot more than a cool-down to get rid of this if you keep talking." He responded flatly, Zoe jumping back in surprise.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Zig opened his mouth to answer her when the teacher piped up.

"Is there a problem back there, you two?" Both Zig and Zoe immediately turned a bashful shade of red as they shook their heads, looking down at their books as they continued to copy more notes. "Perhaps you can re-evaluate that question in detention at lunch time?" the teacher added, Zig letting out a quiet groan as Zoe went even redder.

"You know all to well where to report to, Mr. Novak, I trust you won't have any issues showing Ms. Rivas." She finished, "Alright, chapter 21 has the activities you are to complete before you even try the practical, are we clear?"

As the individual responses were given, Zoe turned to Zig again and smiled. "So, lunch is next. We can always skip the stupid detention and I can help you sort out that little problem?"

Zig froze upon hearing Zoe's offer, the forward nature of the sentence making him want to run for the hills. The very thought of Zoe helping him get rid of the erection that was now beginning to hurt made him want to cry, not out of sheer excitement, but fear. At first, Zig would've jumped at the offer in a heartbeat, but now, sitting next to her in science, it was different. "You don't want to do that. Not on your second day here."

"What? You think I'm already becoming a slut because I offered to fix something that was my fault?" she joked, Zig shaking his head quickly to assure her that he wasn't thinking anything along the lines.

"It's okay, don't worry about little ol' me. I'll figure something out." He told her with a coy smirk, tapping the table lightly before returning to his work, Zoe letting out a snort of laughter as she did the same.

* * *

The rest of the day went seemingly smooth, even with Zoe constantly tagging along with Zig and his friends. He was surprised that she even wanted to join him and his group, especially since she knew all too well that the majority of his posse smoked weed instead of going to class. They even managed to talk their way out of the detention that had received. Zig's most memorable part of the day, however, was when he and Zoe managed to fix his "issue" without doing anything remotely sexual due to Zoe accidentally spilling some of the chemicals used in the practical assignment, thus sending Zig into a panic and completely cooling him off because some of the base had landed on his jeans. In summary; it had been the best damn day of his life in a long time.

"Hey, let me walk you home." Zig told her, "Or at least to your car, you're Zoe Rivas, you'd probably have a car…" he added moments after, rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish way.

Zoe giggled, "No, you can walk me home if you really want to. I was going to walk anyway." She told him with a shrug.

Hearing that she was okay with him walking her home, Zig grinned. "Great, let's go then." He said, jogging down the front steps and stopping on the pavement to wait for Zoe who took her time walking down.

"Are you afraid of steps or something, Princess?" Zig teased with a laugh as Zoe reached the pavement, the girl retaliating by rolling her eyes and smacking his arm.

"I'm not afraid, I'm cautious. I fell down a flight of stairs and it hurt like hell, alright?" she explained, Zig laughing harder.

"Episode 10, Season 9. You're a liar, you don't even do your own stunts." He said nonchalantly, walking beside her as Zoe looked to him, surprised.

"You watch the show?" she asked softly, Zig's eyes widening before looking off toward the distance. How was he supposed to cover that one?

"Relax; you aren't the only boy who's watched the show. Even Mr. Simpson's kid watches it, he's a boy." Zoe stated quietly, silently laughing at Zig's sudden surprise. "Or was that some big secret that you've been hiding for the last… however many years?"

Zig chuckled, "Uh, yeah… Something along the lines." He responded, scratching the back of his neck as he avoided her eye.

"Aww, you're too cute." Zoe said, reaching up and pinching his cheek softly. "But seriously, I have fallen down a flight of stairs. I was three and my mom's heels were the coolest thing my chubby little feet could slide into." She explained quickly, giving a gentle shrug as she turned on the balls of her feet.

"So, are you walking me home or what?"

* * *

In the time that it took Zig to walk the starlet all the way to her house, he found that his infatuation only grew more. He watched the way she spoke, the tiny movements of her head and the way she talked with her hands only made his heart race faster. It was just lucky for him that he learned how to keep his cool.

"Zig?"

He was snapped out of his day-dream by Zoe's concerned voice. He looked over at her, "Hm?"

"My uh… My house is about… back there..." she admitted sheepishly, using her thumb to point back to where she lived.

Embarrassed, he let out a nervous chuckle, Zoe doing the same as he turned to walk her back. "Sorry... I zoned out a little." He told her as they came to a stop at their intended destination.

"I'm sorry, I knew I was boring you with the stupid West Drive talk..." she said with a tiny shake of her head.

Zig's eyes widened again as he furiously shook his head, "No! No, No… not at all, you didn't bore me, I'm just—" he paused, sighing. "I don't actually know how to explain that, I'm sorry..." he admitted, the girl giving a gentle giggle.

"Well, hey... It's early afternoon; do you want to come in for a little while? Maybe have a snack or something?" she asked him, Zig biting the inside of his cheek as he gave a gentle shake of his head.

"I-I shouldn't… I uh, I have to help my mom with…stuff, y'know?" he said, Zoe giving a gentle nod assuring him that she understood.

"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow then." She said with a smile, Zig returning it.

"I guess you will."

And at that, Zig watched Zoe go into her house, the girl giving him one last wave before shutting the door, leaving Zig to stand in the street and wonder what exactly had happened.

He was still thinking about the day even as he entered his own house, going straight to his bedroom and sitting on his bed. "I walked Zoe Rivas home." He said, a goofy grin crossing his face. Zig gently pumped his fist out of glee, the sudden realization that Zoe Rivas had actually acknowledged him, hitting him like a ton of red bricks.

"What was that?" Zig's eyes flew to the open bedroom door where he found his mother holding a laundry basket.

"I-Uh… um…nothing, Ma, Just… stuff." He responded quickly, jumping up from his bed and crossing over to the door, clutching on to the laundry that had been playfully shoved into his chest. "I'll be down in the store after I finish my homework— I promise." He said with a lop-sided grin as he pecked the woman's cheek.

The woman patted his cheek in retaliation before sighing, "You're happy. I like it when you're happy, stay happy." She told him before lightly tapping his nose exactly like she used to when he was younger and smaller than she.

"I'll try, Ma." He told her with a chuckle as the woman left, Zig shutting the door and putting the folded laundry on top of his dresser.

As he turned to walk away, his hand brushed the pile of DVDs that rested next to the laundry pile, sending them to the floor. He groaned, crouching down to gather them up, his eyes catching the all too familiar brown ones that belonged to Zoe.

He picked up the case, a small smile playing at each corner of his lips. "I'll try."


End file.
